[Australia] ATO launches series of new fraud protections

In the wake of an unprecedented rise in identity-related fraud attempts, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has launched a suite of new protections to help secure people’s personal information.

John Ford - ATO Deputy Commissioner and Chief of the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT) - stated that there had been an increase in the pace and scale of criminals using people’s stolen personal information to attempt fraud.

“Global threats, organised crime, the use of artificial intelligence and increased data breaches in the community all mean the risk of fraud is only growing.

“The ATO has acted decisively to help people protect themselves. Security upgrades launched this week will add extra layers of protection for those taxpayers who log in to ATO online services using the myGovID service.”

The Deputy Commissioner shared the three simple steps people can take to more effectively protect themselves:

• The first step is to get a myGovID if you don’t already have one and set it at the strongest level you can obtain.
• The second step is to connect your myGovID to your myGov account. 
• The final step is to then sign into myGov with your myGovID and access ATO online services.

“These three simple steps will protect you against many forms of identity fraud,” Mr Ford said.

“From that point on, you’ll need to use your myGovID to log into ATO online services. The identity strength you have used will now become the minimum level needed whenever you log on in the future.

“For businesses with an ABN, if you appoint a tax agent or change agents, you will now need to give permission to that agent to act on your behalf through ATO Online services.”

Mr Ford added that to respond to the rise in fraud, the ATO has been required to work with the community, tax professionals and many other partners to shut down any potential pathways for fraudsters.

“Fraud is everyone’s concern,’ he said.

“Those attempting fraud are sophisticated. They continually assault systems right across the community to build their expertise and find new ways of breaching defences.

“These criminals do not care if they are targeting the ATO, a tax agent or a small business – anything and anyone is fair game for these heartless thieves.”

The Deputy Commissioner said that those attempting to commit fraud against the ATO were targeting Australia’s capacity to fund health, education and infrastructure. Still, everyday Australians were also significantly impacted by the theft of their personal information.

“Unfortunately, we know victims of identity fraud suffer more than just financial loss and personal anguish.

“Necessary additional protections put in place for these victims can mean it takes longer to access services or prove their identity. We understand the frustrations additional protections can sometimes cause, but we cannot make changes which risk losing Australia’s revenue or people’s personal information to criminals,” he said.

“We also want to thank the tax professional community, who continue to work with us to add extra protections into their business practices, such as client-agent linking.

"They have recognised the fraud challenge, and are willingly playing their part in making the system harder for fraudsters, even where this has required some changes to their processes.”

Visit the ATO website for further information and steps individuals and tax professionals can take.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

In the wake of an unprecedented rise in identity-related fraud attempts, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has launched a suite of new protections to help secure people’s personal information.

John Ford - ATO Deputy Commissioner and Chief of the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT) - stated that there had been an increase in the pace and scale of criminals using people’s stolen personal information to attempt fraud.

“Global threats, organised crime, the use of artificial intelligence and increased data breaches in the community all mean the risk of fraud is only growing.

“The ATO has acted decisively to help people protect themselves. Security upgrades launched this week will add extra layers of protection for those taxpayers who log in to ATO online services using the myGovID service.”

The Deputy Commissioner shared the three simple steps people can take to more effectively protect themselves:

• The first step is to get a myGovID if you don’t already have one and set it at the strongest level you can obtain.
• The second step is to connect your myGovID to your myGov account. 
• The final step is to then sign into myGov with your myGovID and access ATO online services.

“These three simple steps will protect you against many forms of identity fraud,” Mr Ford said.

“From that point on, you’ll need to use your myGovID to log into ATO online services. The identity strength you have used will now become the minimum level needed whenever you log on in the future.

“For businesses with an ABN, if you appoint a tax agent or change agents, you will now need to give permission to that agent to act on your behalf through ATO Online services.”

Mr Ford added that to respond to the rise in fraud, the ATO has been required to work with the community, tax professionals and many other partners to shut down any potential pathways for fraudsters.

“Fraud is everyone’s concern,’ he said.

“Those attempting fraud are sophisticated. They continually assault systems right across the community to build their expertise and find new ways of breaching defences.

“These criminals do not care if they are targeting the ATO, a tax agent or a small business – anything and anyone is fair game for these heartless thieves.”

The Deputy Commissioner said that those attempting to commit fraud against the ATO were targeting Australia’s capacity to fund health, education and infrastructure. Still, everyday Australians were also significantly impacted by the theft of their personal information.

“Unfortunately, we know victims of identity fraud suffer more than just financial loss and personal anguish.

“Necessary additional protections put in place for these victims can mean it takes longer to access services or prove their identity. We understand the frustrations additional protections can sometimes cause, but we cannot make changes which risk losing Australia’s revenue or people’s personal information to criminals,” he said.

“We also want to thank the tax professional community, who continue to work with us to add extra protections into their business practices, such as client-agent linking.

"They have recognised the fraud challenge, and are willingly playing their part in making the system harder for fraudsters, even where this has required some changes to their processes.”

Visit the ATO website for further information and steps individuals and tax professionals can take.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

(Link and quotes via original reporting)